I began to pace my cell. Five paces by four paces, and maybe three meters to the ceiling. When I saw the lock on the door as they ushered me in, I realized how easy it would have been to escape this place -- if I had my cloak!
Well, maybe not that easy. Getting out of this cell would be a cinch with my tools and magic. Getting Clai... Lucia out with me would have complicated things, but it would have been likely we could have gotten to a point at which I could have began using the Pattern.
But now... there would be no way I'd leave without Lucia, my cloak, and some matter of revenge against Mira for the murder of Aidan.
I suppose there was some very slim chance that he could hold out -- he is of Amber, like the rest of us -- but his wound would have killed a normal man instantly. I was only able to promise him vengeance before giving myself up, in the very slim hope that Merlin hadn't been already detained (or worse) and would be able to come to Aidan's aid after we left.
I continued to pace, constructing what I'd say about what happened with Benedict if we were able to get back to Amber. He basically looked at us as if we were nothing more than carrier pigeons -- and the worst part of all of that was that it was true. If Cecily wants me to be her ambassador, there'd best never be a repeat of what happened there again. Then again, I suppose I should not be so harsh. She was forced into that position just as much as the rest of us have been made to do things we are not so familiar with.
Not that it really matters at the moment. It's quite possible that we'll never leave these cells again.
*****
Mira was all talk on the way to the ship, but she said nothing of value, even when I asked her outright. Luckily the fools decided only to keep their crossbows trained on me as opposed to blindfolding me -- thus I was able to take in every possible landmark in order to return to where we would be going int he case that I should escape. The only drawback to this is that there was a long stretch of ocean where there was not much in the way of landmarks, but I don't know enough about how the Pattern powers work to know if this will keep me from getting back or not.
Eventually we docked at a foggy jungle isle, which I dubbed in my head as Pirate Island. Indeed there were pirates, but Lucia and I were immediately hustled off to the stone fortress, and then through dark, dank corridors until showing up here, in the jail.
*****
With nothing left but to sit there, Lucia and I began to talk through the wall. She had no knowledge or understanding of being anyone other than a Lady of Chaos. She could tell me stories of her childhood, of living in Chaos, but nothing of the past that she and I shared.
I became frustrated. Every mannerism, inflection, choice of language screamed at me that this was my Claire. Even thirty years later, she looked as fresh and young as when I'd known her. She knew nothing of either Aidan or Embeth, even. When I told her that we'd been... involved, her only comment was that she could understand that.
I've got to figure out what to do next. Trying to break out of here equipped as we are would be tantamount to suicide -- and besides, it might behoove Amber for me to try to find out as much as I can about what Mira and Roth are up to. Besides, there were plans in motion to find this island we're on well before I ended up here.
More than anything, I want to get back to Amber with Lucia. I have some theories on what might be happening, and possible ways of either proving that Lucia is not Claire, or returning Claire to her former self. One thing is for certain -- she can never return to Zamorna again.
Unfortunately, the only tool I can think of that will prove things for good or bad is... the Pattern. And this is the prison I've put myself in, more restrictive than the stone walls that surround me now.
Back to The Present Tense
Ahead to Trip Through Your Wires
Return to Diaries
Return to Griffin